An overview of barley breeding and variety trials in Iceland in 1987-2014

• Published in: Icelandic Agricultural Sciences
• Main Authors: Hilmarsson, Hrannar Smári, Göransson, Magnus, Lillemo, Morten, Kristjánsdóttir, Þórdís Anna, Hermannsson, Jónatan, Hallsson, Jon
• Other Authors: Auðlinda- og umhverfisdeild (LBHÍ), Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (AUI), Landbúnaðarháskóli Íslands, Agricultural University of Iceland
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Agricultural University of Iceland 2017
• Subjects: Kornrækt; Bygg; Barley; Arctic; Iceland
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/460; https://doi.org/10.16886/IAS.2017.02

Barley is of great importance in modern agriculture and is currently the fourth most important cereal after wheat, maize, and rice. It is well adapted to a range of climatic and day-length conditions, with a distribution from Ethiopia to northern Scandinavia. Despite this, Iceland, with its sub-arctic agriculture, is considered to be at the margin of barley cultivation. Still the importance of barley has steadily increased in Icelandic agriculture, most likely as the result of positive environmental change, continuous testing of new Nordic cultivars, and an Icelandic barley breeding project. Here we present a review of the results from barley cultivar trials from 40 locations over a 28-year period in Iceland in the years 1987-2014. The results showed that yields were rising and the time from sowing to harvest was getting shorter. Also, the Icelandic genotypes were heading earlier, while showing higher yields. The results also showed that test locations were getting fewer but at the same time the number of tested genotypes was increasing. The analysis presented here highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of the current breeding program and is therefore an important basis for future breeding projects for Icelandic agriculture and possibly for other small scale breeding projects aimed at peripheral areas. Bygg er mikilvæg nytjaplanta og er í fjórða sæti yfir mikilvægustu korntegundir í heiminu á eftir hveiti, maís og hrísgrjónum. Þó bygg hafi aðlagast fjölbreytilegum umhverfisskilyrðum, bæði loftslagi og daglengd, þá er ræktun á jaðri heimskautasvæðanna enn á mörkum þess mögulega, sem endurspeglast meðal annars í stuttri ræktunarsögu byggs á Íslandi og þeim erfiðleikum sem steðja að byggræktendum hérlendis. Þrátt fyrir það þá hefur mikilvægi byggs fyrir íslenskan landbúnað aukist nokkuð stöðugt undanfarin ár, sem meðal annars hefur verið skýrt sem afleiðing batnandi umhverfisskilyrða, prófana á erlendum byggyrkjum og kynbóta sérstaklega fyrir íslenskar aðstæður. Hér birtum við niðurstöður úr ...